With Independence Day fresh in our brains (and barbecued meats fresh in our stomachs), I think that it’s high time to visit a webcomic that explores the themes of our Founding Fathers and the American Revolution. For far too long, young people associate the name Sam Adams with a defensive tackle and Paul Revere as a Beastie Boys song with a pulse-pounding bass beat.
While other wars in American history tend to get their due in popular media, very few people bother with the Revolutionary War. On the other hand, there are several hundred stories set in the Civil War, several hundred more set in World War II, and a bunch of downers set in the Vietnam War. Outside of a documentary done for the History Channel, the only major project set during the Revolutionary War that I recall is that one Mel Gibson flick where he spears a horse with The Stars and Stripes. USA! USA!
Part of the problem is that it’s set in an era so long ago that today’s modern readers cannot relate to the cultural nuances of earlier culture. They were just so … European, you know? They were the sort where generals met over tea and crumpets once the sun set. Not at all like the beer drinkin’, steak eatin’ men that stomped the beaches of Normandy! Another problem is that the baddies were the Brits. They were our hated enemies 200 years ago — plundering seas, ravaging Coasts, and burning towns, like it says in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, time heals all wounds. Right now, those limey Lobsters are our best buds… unlike those French, our friends and allies during the Revolution (and whose timely involvement at the Battle of Yorktown brought the war to a close). Thus, we Americans tend to downplay that list of grievances that take up 80% of the Declaration and focus on the “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness” segment… which frankly sounds like a bit of tossed-off artistic flourish on Jefferson’s part.
A pity, because the American Revolution was quite possibly the sexiest war ever fought. Look at some old paintings and check out how the men were depicted in that era. Clean shaven men with long, luxurious hair tied up in bows, skin tight knee breeches and frilly shirts, fit bodies with delicate features. Vets like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson may have become presidents through their courage and leadership, but having an appealing side profile sure didn’t hurt them none. (Just ask Sally Hemmings… wink wink.) Honest to God, a yaoi fangirl could have a field day with this material. It sure beats those grizzly mountain men beards Grant and Lee would be sporting four score and seven years later. I mean, they’re macho and all, but the Blue and the Grey won’t be winning awards on the catwalk, you know what I’m sayin’?
This isn’t lost on Lora Innes, however. Her webcomic, The Dreamer, is about hunky minutemen and a plucky, young heroine. Can love blossom at a time when men and women are fighting to bring forth on the continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal?
